It’s official.  The iPhone 4S can be pre-ordered on Sprint, Verizon and AT&T starting Oct. 7th, officially “launching” on Oct. 14th.

The iPhone 4S will include iOS 5, which will be launched on Oct. 12th.

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Pricing for the iPhone 4S will be $199 for 16GB (black and white), $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB, which is the first time that an iPhone will have the capacity to hold up to 64GB.  The iPhone 4 will still be available for $99 in both black and white, and the 3GS will be available for free.  Yes, free.

Hardware updates for the iPhone 4S include:

• A5 Chip – up to 7x faster than the older iPhones “Dual-core CPU, 2x as fast at CPU tasks. Also dual-core graphics”
• 8MP Camera Sensor
• 1080 HD Video Recording
• New Antenna System - CDMA/GSM chip for various networks, making it a world-wide phone
• Siri – Voice Controlled “Virtual Assistant”

iOS 5 features, which will be released on Oct. 12th for all iPhones, include:

• iMessage – free messenger-to-messenger feature which seems similar to the BlackBerry Messenger system
• Notification Center
• Reminders
• Twitter Integration
• Newsstand
• Improved Camera Capabilities – red eye removal, cropping, rotating, one-click access from the lock screen, etc.
• Game Center Upgrade
• Mail App Update
• Safari Upgrade – improved speed, tabbed browsing for the iPad
• Activation without connecting to iTunes

iCloud features were also announced, but this gives us enough food for thought for now.

What do you think?  Are you going to get an iPhone 4S?  What do you think of the upgrades?  Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Special thanks to Ryan Block from Gdgt for keeping me posted throughout the event, as well as TechCrunch for the after-event summary and of course, Apple (especially for the pictures

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